IDEA Fitness Convention July 8th-13th 2008, Top Ten List and more...

The AMAZING booth we set up at the expo! Impact Fitness Wear


Good Times! First day selling!

Megan the owner of Impact Fitness this is why I came to help support her and her awesome fitness clothing line!

Mindy what a cute person she is, I loved hanging with you Mindy!

I LOVE YOU KIRSTEN her and I had the funnest time's with the Top Ten list! We will sure miss the juice man.

Danny! What a good sport! Megan's hubby, he was always working so hard to make us girls happy! The trip would not have been the same without you.



Well I'm finally home after a crazy June and July! Every year I go out to this convention to get some much needed ideas for my group fitness career in teaching. This is very entertaining for me to attend Idea. Usually what happens is I go and really I don't come home with tons of ideas. What I do come home with is hillarious stories and great memories. This convention is packed full of people of every shape, size and ethnicity....to say the least! Master presenters from around the nation come and present their format to the attendees. (Which are other fitness instructors, guru's ect.) Our day's are packed full of workouts and lectures. Then there is the awesome expo where vendors come with their product to sale to the many of us who just don't know how to stop swiping that piece of plastic on more and more and more fitness clothes and accessories. I have more work out clothes than I can use but I kept buying and its all in good fun! Here are some highlights.

The last couple of years I have also been going out there to work for Impact Fitness Wear and sell Megan's awesome fitness clothing line at the expo. It is a hoot! We made up the top 10 list and if something is funny or weird enough it goes on the top 10 list for the top funniest things we see at the convention. If you make the top ten then it has to be good! www.impactfitnesswear.com



Kirstin and I's second top ten. This is just not right. This guy's shirt was a little small but you can tell he is really into aerobic's. We saw a whole bunch of these type's of outfit's on the wrong gender.

Tuesday July 8th
*Fly out to Vegas at 8 am with Sariah, stoked to go to Vegas!
*Meet Megan at the Marriot it is 115 degrees! Can't wait to work her Impact Fitness booth!
*Set up booth and expo hall opens at 4:30-7pm. First top ten occurred within ten minutes of opening. I called it! I told Megan and the girls that the Asian's love the headbands for some reason its their favorite thing. Well we put the headband's up and guess who are first customer was, well I will post a picture. It was awesome! We laughed our butts off!

*Close down the booth
*THE FUN REALLY BEGINS...Meet Kaycee at the Condo at 10:30 P.M.
*Go to the store and run into a man with a gun at Food 4 Less, NO JOKE! We were trying to dodge him the entire time, but Kaycee walked down his aisle anyways..you kiddin me. She said she didn't want to look like a target. I was outta there. No more Food 4 Less anymore. We did get our oatmeal. PHEW!
*Emily arrives at the condo 1:30 a.m.

WEDS July 9th
*Wake up time to go to the EXPO and work! MORE TOP TENS TODAY!
*Strike with Kimberly Spreen from Lifetime Fitness at 5:30 AWESOME WORKOUT!
*Dinner at Grand Lux Cafe for Megans Birthday. YUMMY!
*Go back to condo goodnight!

All of us girls! Happy Birthday Megs!

THURS July 10th
*Wake up and head to EXPO SELL OUR GUTS OUT!
*Kaycee picked me up at EXPO we head back to get ready for SUSHI at a place called RA. VERY YUMMY!
*hung out and baught fun make up in Sephora, went dancing and went to a piano bar. Fun times!
*Get stuck in a parking garage at 4 a.m. took us 45 minutes to find a way out, had to get security. I thought I was going to die of being so tired!
*BED!
Kaycee and Abbey at the Piano Bar. Kaycee is always one to make a trip a bit more exciting with her humor and the way she just is! I want to thank her personally for the many laughs and good times! I don't know if many could say they love their boss. I love my boss and she is a great friend.

Emily Dancing!
FRIDAY July 11th
*SLEEP IN!
*LAST DAY OF EXPO SO TIRED!
*Kaycee and I went to a hole in the wall Sushi place for dinner that was amazing!
*Sonic Burger Shakes! Getting fatter by the minute
*Go back to condo and just hang in our pajama's.
*Bed time

SATURDAY July 12th
*No Expo today
*Do some damage at the outlets.
*Drive to St. George and stay at Kaycee's parents house

SUNDAY July 13th

*Exhausted!
*DRIVE HOME
*FAT


Part of our Top 10 List. I spotted this guy at the Piano Bar, he looked like he just needed a woman. It was so funny!

TOP 10 LIST VEGAS CONVENTION 2008!

1. Asian lady buying the first headband, after I called it! If you were there you would have laughed your brains out!
2. Guy in the aerobics shirt..now its just not right.
3. Lady with the red shiny fake leather purse shaped as a watering can. I thought she was coming in to water our clothes...oh wait its a purse.
4. The guy running for dear life on the strip passing up two girls standing on the side walk in there running clothes and shoes doing nothing..who should be running here?? This other guy was in his jeans and tee shirt...so funny!
5. The old lady decked out in spandex and eighties leg warmers with boxers over the top of her pants rocking out in a dance session. I literally thought I was going to die! She had some great moves if I must say!
6. Kaycee missing every possible exit and never one time getting on the right exit..well maybe once, the last day.
7. The old lady rocking out at dynamix music booth with the ear phones on and acting like nobody was watching. She had a magnifying glass in one hand because she couldn't see the songs she was picking. Not to say the least her little jig she was doing while listening to the music selections.
8. The guy at the piano bar decked out in American Flag apparel and all sorts of pins on his shirt. Enjoying his time alone, but he did need a lady!
9. The camel toe I called out..yes the many camel toe's I called out but this one was the worst of all..and sad to say I think the lady heard me because she looked down at her crotch and left the booth...I felt bad!
10. A lady that had probably size triple ee boobs and I am not exaggerating!She asked for a size small tank and than I looked at Kirsten with all sorts of confusion when she told us she was a 32 bust. Lets just say we got Megan. HILLARIOUS!

4th of July and Biking!

At the top of Emmigration Canyon

Holy cow I have had alot going on lately. It seems that I have not stopped to breathe and take everything in that I have been doing the last few weeks. Since the Ragnars Wasatch Back Relay, I have been to Lake Powell and back, I also took a trip the very next weekend to Logan for the MS 150 ride that I did with Life Time fitness. Please read on as this is my second post today because of so much that has been going on that I have not yet blogged about. I leave Tuesday for Vegas for the Idea Fitness convention and I already can't wait! I will be headed down with some of my Life Time friends and I will be helping Megs out in her awesome Impact Fitness Booth for the week. Last night was the 4th of July and it was so nice to be with my family. We went to my sisters house and had a bbq and watched my dad as he and Joseph entertained us with store baught fireworks. The funniest part was playing cop patrol, making sure they were not lingering around the neighborhood to catch us in our mischief. I love my family!

SO, today I finally got some alone time. I have not had any in awhile. I'm the type of girl that every once in awhile I just need a break and I need some Abbey time. So, of course I decided to take that much needed alone time and go for a 70 mile bike ride. It was a long day but the views at the top of Emmigration canyon was amazing! It was very hot and by this time my arms were full of heat blisters so I quickly got back on my bike and made my way back home. What an amazing thing it is to see such views after a long hard climb. It makes it worth it!

View at the top of Emmigration Canyon after a long ride from home

Over the weekend, just being silly!

Keep reading on to see my latest blogging about the MS ride.

MS 150 Life Time Fitness June 28th 2008

Let me just say that I really do have the best job in the world! It is times like these and events like this that I am reminded of how lucky I am to be a part of such an amazing team. Last weekend was the MS 150 bike ride in Logan. Life Time is always a huge part of this and we try to raise as much as we can for this great cause. This year we had the biggest team of 177 riders. We rode 100 miles in 97 degree heat but it didn't matter, I was with my favorite people in the world. I rode with Kaycee, Deb, Heidi and Kasi and we called ourselves the fab 5. Nobody else could stand a chance to hang with us, so we stayed together and kicked major booty. The 100 mile ride would not have been the same without them. We also had a blast hanging out the night before. We had 4 people in one king size bed and that alone was a comedy. I don't think I slept and if I did it was probably for only ten minutes. The night before we decorated our bikes and stayed up late laughing and eating candy. Kaycee and I had noise makers on our bikes to keep everyone entertained. I had a huge horn that we baught at Walmart on our way up and Kaycee had a rubber parrot named Pete that I had mounted on her handle bars. Holy crap, we almost peed our pants everytime we honked these suckers. So did everybody else! Anyways, here is some pictures of the race. I don't have many posted, but once I get the others from Kaycee I will blog more about my fun weekend. Enjoy!


My team! I can't express to you how much these people mean to me. LOVE YOU!

All of the girls being silly! This pyramid did not last long, we all fell like two seconds later! Kaycee we can't see your muscles because your hair is in the way! ;)

Good Times!


Debbie and Kaycee! Man I love these two!

Yikes! Never cute in a helmet and a very close up picture! I have to say though that I was sure glad to be done with 100 miles!


TO BE CONTINUED ON A FUTURE BLOG POST........

A Lake Powell trip gone Horribly bad!

I have these two friends. I love them with everything I have, they mean the world to me. Below is a random picture that I took last night after we went out for sushi. We were celebrating our friendship :) You will know why after I tell you this story. Below that is a picture of a tube. I will never as long as I live set foot on one of these as I experienced a horrible accident at Lake Powell on Monday, June 23rd.




Jessie, Abbey and Megs. 3 Peas in a Pod!

Not a good idea!

I just wanted to say that I am lucky to have Megan Burger with me today. We went down to Lake Powell immediatly following my Wasatch Back relay race. I was excited to unwind and enjoy the rays. Lake Powell is my favorite place on earth. We arrived Sunday afternoon and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. It had been years since I experienced the whole house boat thing. Monday morning we decided to go out and tube because it was not good wake boarding water. We had a blast! We worked our way over to Swim rock. This is an incredible site. I was amazed by the beauty. We had a chance to play in the water for about an hour and laugh our butts off. On the way back to the houseboat, Megan and I decided we were going to just sit on the tube and get a ride. We didn't want to go all crazy! As we approached the houseboat, Megan mentioned that she was tired of holding on to the tube. I told her that we were almost there. As we got closer to the houseboat, they decided to take one more circle around the bay. I told Megan to hold on....well we hit a wave. Megan came off of the tube and landed back on the tube hitting her nose and giving her a good hard hit. She looked up at me and said, "I'm ok!" I said are you sure? I than saw that her nose was bleeding. I motioned for the boat to pull us in...I than looked up and saw something that I will never forget in my lfe. Megan's eyes rolled back in her had and she passed out falling into the water. I screamed! I jumped in to grab her and pulled her towards the boat. I begin wiping the blood off of her face. I had never seen my Megs in this condition. We got her on the boat and hauled her to the dock. She was not really responding. We gave her a priesthood blessing and I was so grateful to have that available. Megan was still not responding. Jessie and I kept telling her to keep her eyes open. We got her to the doctor and they put oxygen on her face. She started breathing really fast and screaming. I could not watch it, I walked out of the room and went outside to wait and sat with Jess while we just sobbed. We couldn't believe this happened to Megs. The doctor came out and told us that Megan was ok and she wanted to see us. We went in and she again started breathing out of control and screaming. I knew she was not ok. I had so much anxiety! To make the long story short, Megan was ok. We ended up cutting our Lake Powell trip short and left that night. She didn't have anything wrong with her and I know it was because of the priesthood blessing she recieved. The doctor told us she was very lucky! I love Megan and Jessie and I am so grateful to have them both in my life! It brought us together and I will always know that they will be for me if I needed them in a time a need.

Please think twice before you take a tube ride. The smallest wave can knock you out. Better luck next time! I am just grateful to have my friend!

Ragnars Wasatch Back Relay June 20-21st 2008. "The RUNAMOK DIVA'S"

This was one of those races I could say when I was finished,"I AM EXHAUSTED" This relay consists of two vans,12 runners and a route that starts in Logan and ends in Park City Utah. 100 miles total! I went 32 hours without sleep and I have never run so hard in my life! I ran through heat, cold, and gave my teammates sponge baths along the way. I was fortunate to be apart of an amazing team! The Runamok Diva's do not mess around. We finished 72nd place overall with a total of over 500 teams. We also finished 7th overall in Womans open teams. Thanks Andrea for asking me to be apart of this great experience. I will never forget it as long as I live! I already cannot wait for next year. Here are some pictures!




Abbey, Natalie, Jenn, Andrea, Katrina and Alicia! RUNAMOK DIVA'S





Waiting for Andrea to come in so that we could send Jenn on her way!

Ready to rock n' roll. My first run consisted of a 6.7 mile run in 90 degree heat! GIDDY UP! Who knows why I had that weird lookin smurk on my face. YIKES!

Abbey and Deb! She was on another team "A Pretty Pace" She works as an instructor with me at Life Time and I love this person! Their team rocked!

"A Pretty Pace" Quick shot as they were driving to meet their runner.

Runamok Diva's Car...we did some art work all over the windows.

Andrea Martinez! She is an AMAZING runner! She is the reason why I was on this team. I loved this vest and I could not wait to wear it! I had a few more hours until I had the great oppertunity!

My Team! Abbey, Natalie and Alicia! I had so much fun with these girls!

Andrea hot stuff!

In the middle of the night..waiting to run my night leg. We were starting to get really tired by now. Good Times!

I just wanted my blankie and a place to rest my head before it was time to run again, and again.

These memories will go down as some of the best of my life. It was so fun to see a lot of people that I knew from around Utah joining in the awesome fun! There was over 7,000 runners. Despite the lack of sleep and the tears of pain I shed during this race...it was well worth it. I grew more as a person and it definetly tested my strength. I still think about it and wonder how the heck I did this, but I could not have done it without the support of all my friends and team mates. I LOVED IT!

CYCLE SUMMIT PICTURES

Well after a few months of arriving back from one of the greatest times of my life, I am finally posting pictures. To recap, this trip was probably one of the greatest oppertunities I could experience with Life Time Fitness. This job is my passion in life. Going to Minnnesota only helped me gain a deeper gratitude for what I do each day. While I was there I was chosen to be on the Board of Directors by Braham Akradi the CEO himself...what an experience! I will never forget it! I will also never forget laughing so hard till my stomach was about to burst. I met people that have influenced my life and I am so lucky to have them as friends. Thanks Kaycee again for choosing and having in confidence in me to be a part of this awesome weekend! I LOVE MY JOB!


Kaycee and Abbey while getting our butts kicked by Braham as he engaged us in our first cycle class of the three day summit! We had no idea what we were in for..AHHH! Those are not smiles of joy, they are smiles of pain...Kaycee would have to agree!

Amazed and taking everything in!

Getting ready to ride!

WOW so much fun!

Another rock star cycle instructor Tara from Dallas Texas.

Braham Akradi the CEO of Life Time Fitness! Teaching us how to uh...sweat!

Braham and Kimberly. Kimberly is the Group Fitness Department Head for Life Time Fitness! Awesome person!!

The gang

Emily, one of the coolest girls I met at the summit

Rob Glick, he is big time!

Braham's personal DJ. Roberto Costas! He is so dang cool! He provided our music for the week! He can make some mad remix's!

Rob Glick again...
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Summit Attendees!

More and More and More of us!

Dana and the girls! We were all in the same van and boy did I have fun with all these girls.

So there you have it! Those are some of the best times of my life! I can't wait to continue this amazing journey with Life Time Fitness!

Its just Monday

Ok time for a new post. I was browsing amongst some friends blogs and took this one from Anika's blog. I hope you guys enjoy more interesting facts about my life at a glance. Also, my nieces can't get enough of my new camera phone. They are obsessed with taking pictures...so yet more pictures with my nieces. I don't mind they are my angels.



Joys- Oh the Joys of my life, I have so many but here are a few that stick out in my mind.

1. Friendships- Nothing like friends that always know how to lift you up on a bad day or knowing they are there for you no matter the situation for support, advice or a good time. A few stick out in my mind. Jessie and Megan these two are the definition of a friend and I am so grateful for them. I hope they never forget. Katie is a good friend because she relates to everything that I am going through. She is someone I can call on that will always understand. Heather Mcdonald and Heidi Pferdner are friends that no matter how long we don't talk they would be there for me in a minute if I needed them. I love you two! They will be my friends forever. The Morrills, they are a family that I have come to know more this past year. Their cute girls brighten my life and I look forward to every chance I get to hang with them. My Life Time family every one of my friends I work with and the friendships I have made in the last year over there, truly amazing group of people! My awesome family is the best friends that anyone could ask for and I am so blessed to have such a great support system in my life.


2. Accomplishments, crossing a much awaited finish line. Seeing family and friends there to support you as you finish. Amelia running in with me at the St. George marathon when I had nothing to give and I did not think I would qualify. She held my hands and guided me as she ran with me to the end. She had the strength I needed to finish and I qualified.
Ethan's face when he saw me finish Lotoja in 2006, he looked at me as if I was his hero. He walked my bike for me and I truly knew that he looked up to his aunt that night. Watching the Pogues jump up and down as I finished Lotoja the same night. (They were much faster)
When I finished the SLC Marathon the hardest race I have had in 2004 my friend jumped the ropes and ran me to the finish in her barefeet down the road as I was in pain.
Watching others accomplish hard goals is so inspiring. Half of the stuff I have attempted to accomplish and have accomplished is because of the inspiration of watching others. Lotoja-A friend, Boston Marathon-My Dad, Eventually I want to take on the biggest accomplishment of my life and that is to become a good mother and I watch and learn from my own mom and sisters example.


3. Teaching a successful class and watching others learn and become stronger from what I give and what I am truly passionate about, its an amazing feeling.

4. The Gospel is my true definition of Joy because it is everlasting

5. Climbing a long canyon on my road bike and then descending down with only the small of my tire and road to seperate me from literally flying.

6. The little angels in my life: Savannah, Sarah, Ethan, Madelyn, Vincent, Mason, and Dylan (My nieces and nephews!) CONGRATS to Allison my sister, Dylan was born today 6/16 at 7:30 this morning. YAY! Another one to spoil!

My other little angels: Maddie, Brie, and CeCe Morrill. Christopher. Shawn Armstrong and cute Maddie from Lifetime. KIDS are absolutly the joy in my life.

Fears


1. Never finding love, yes this is a real fear of mine. I have so much to give but I hope I get the chance to find that special person to share it with and I really want to be a mommy!


2. Airplanes. I am getting better, I have a few things that have to occur while I am flying. A. I have to sit in a window seat B. I have to listen to my music perferably Sarah Mclachlan or Ronan Hardiman C. I need to take a valume! D. I need to check out the pilots to make sure they look nice. D. Nobody can talk to me during take off. E. Pray Pray Pray.

Although the last time I took a flight it was with Kaycee and she did not allow for me even to think about being scared she chatted and made jokes the whole time and I was not by a window seat. So we just listened to her laptop and I did pray still ;) Thanks Kaycee! She had no idea how scared I really was to fly. There is something wierd about being 30,000 feet above ground in a tube.


3. Heights, I'm not too fond of heights...I have this re ocurring dream that I am on top of a sky scraper in NY and I am hanging on for dear life and no! Spider man is not there to save me. Anyone that knows about dreams, can you interpret that for me?

4. Not reaching my highest potential and goals. I am really hard on myself, so that scares me. I want to live my life but really LIVE my life!




Goals
1. To be a awesome wife and mother someday to a beautiful family.

2. To finish a Iron Man triathalon sometime in the next couple of years. Couer d'Alene. To do well in all of my races, prepare myself accordingly to place and break records :)

3. To write a successful novel that will one day be on the Oprah book club list. Or atleast a few! I would like to travel the world and become a motivational speaker.

4. To continue on my awesome group fitness path. To keep pursuing this dream and become more and more passionate with what I do, if it is even possible. The growth is endless and I love it!

Current Obsessions


1. Sushi! I don't know what has come over me but I can't get enough. There a few places that I have discovered where I like to get my sushi. Harmons and Ginza! Wow, incredible!

2. My road bike, I think it has always been my obsession.

3. I am obessed with the tv show "So you think you can dance" Its is one of the highlights of my week.



Random Facts About Me

1. I will say it how it is...sometimes I need to watch what I say, but I am blunt! No beating around the bush!

2. I'm into New Age and World Music. I LOVE the LION KING soundtrack, that music just is incredible.

3. I have a really good sense of what is right and wrong and sometimes it bugs the crap outta me. I want to live more on the wild side.

4. I am very observant, I can observe a lot about people and I am a good judge of character. I have a strong intuition

5. My favorite thing to do is sit in bed with my lap top and watch T'vo at the same time.

6. I love Cinnamin Tea

7. I love being with kids

8. I was a children's ski instructor for 3 seasons, good times!

9. I lived in Scotland for a year

10. I have my own language called Scodiax

11. I LOVE PEOPLE

12. I can stand on my head

13. Lake Powell is my number one choice vacation spot

14. Roller coasters make me really sick


THATS ALL FOR NOW!